Does your face hurt?

It started with a bite. A mosquito bite on the back of the leg that seemed like nothing at all. But then came the swelling, the reddening, the blackening. Then came the daily trip to the doctor to change the tube in the leg. The daily change of soaked bandages. The inability to walk without leaning against walls and pain medication. Super antibiotics. Night spent sleeping in a chair because lying down hurts. A heating pad and long soaks in the bath.

Every movement of the leg tears the muscle where the infection has woven itself. But eventually it heals, and there is a purple, twisted scar.

This is MRSA staph. I’ve had it on my legs twice, my arm, in my ear, on my scalp in three places, and now on my face. Only by now I recognize it before it turns black. Now I go to the doctor before it becomes a volcano. My hair falls forward just enough to hide it as long as there is no breeze.

Well, this may be the regular staph. I’ve had that too. But they didn’t cut it open this time to take a culture. I caught it early enough, so there is just bactroban and antibiotics.

It is under control today. Looks like bad pimple today and I’ll go to IF+D today to make art and meet people. Before I couldn’t stand the idea of meeting anyone with this mark on my face. Will people want to buy anything from you if you looked diseased?

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18 thoughts on “Does your face hurt?”

Oh, Marta, I’m so sorry! I had no idea the infection you were talking about was so bad. I should have sent good wishes sooner and often. Can you put a little round band-aid on it, would that make you feel better while you’re out?

Goodness I’m sorry. That’s AWFUL. I didn’t realize when you tweeted about staph loving you it was something so serious. I’ll say a prayer for you.

Get better soon. My uncle used to say nasty things like the “does your face hurt” remark, but he’s a moron so I never really considered him anything but just that. And I’ve been VERY productive lately. The #fridayflash piece I’ve posted is just the tip of the iceberg for me.

Clearly I’m the only person in the room with a 5-year-old computer: the snowflakes slow it to a craaaaawwwwlllll. When I comment here during the holidays, I’ve learned not to look at the screen while I type; it’s too distracting to hit a key and see the corresponding character show up… 1… second… later…

I had a weird staph infection a few weeks back, on a finger. But I SWEAR I didn’t touch anything when visiting here… Wait — well, I DID use the water fountain. But that shouldn’t count, right?

Kidding again. Seriously, sorry to hear about the problem. Vanity is indeed a terrible thing, but another way to look at it is if it really completely incapacitated you, you’d never have become a writer and artist. At one level or another, we’ve got to be among the vainest people on the planet. (We’re just, haha, terribly neurotic about our vanity.)

Unrelated to my staph infection, I have this intermittent “situation” which occurs on four fingertips — three on one hand, one on the other. I’m told by a couple of doctors whose opinions I paid for that it’s eczema, maybe it is, I don’t know. I don’t know anyone else with eczema, although I’ve heard about it. It’s just very difficult for me to believe that something as common as eczema has no real cause and no real cure, just treatments at the time it flares up. (The skin gets rough and dry, often cracks. It’s really not that noticeable itself, but it stings like hell.) The treatments all involve wrapping the area with a bandage of some kind. Because I’m vain, too, I tend to avoid using Band-Aids — too bulky, too visible. Instead, I use this prescription medicated tape, which is thin and translucent. If I had the eczema on a nice flat area the tape would be ideal, but on the hard-to-wrap fingertips… As I talk to people, or point out things on their computer screens at work, I can see the barely-controlled flick of the eyes finger-ward.

(Misssy M currently has a funny post up about vanity, btw — she’s gotten braces.)

Oh, don’t ask about productivity. I’m writing — that’s the important thing, I guess — but have felt VERY unproductive for a few weeks now.